54 Main Bar & Grille — Restaurant in Madison

Been going here for about two years now. Once a week after classes for dinner until I graduated. Food was good and for college students the prices were alright. I liked this place until recently revisiting to reunite with some friends who graduated nearby.

To start off, we ordered meals and drinks. About halfway through the meal a waitress had realized that they had somehow forgotten that the restaurant had a reservation for a party of 22. She had politely asked us to move to another table within the restaurant which we agreed to as mistakes happen and it was the first time we had ever been given an inconvenience. However this wouldn’t be the last inconvenience of our night.

Once we moved to a new table, our waiter Tim who was very nice mentioned to us that we should be getting complementary drinks for being willing to move to another table which was nice of him. Soon after we were ready for the receipt and to head home. This is when Tim told us that their systems were down and that they needed to print the receipt out and process the payment from one of our cards at the end of the business day. After about 45 minutes of waiting for the receipt, we finally received it and we saw that we were being charged the full cost of dinner plus the extra drinks that were “complementary.” From that point on we were reinsured that we wouldn’t be charged for the drinks which came out to be about $50 extra and that since the system was down, it would show the drinks there no matter what, so we left notes on the receipt to serve as a reminder that they were given as complementary drinks and to charge a 23% tip.

The next day we see that our friend who had put the bill on his card was charged for the drinks in addition to the meal. Once we called the restaurant we were told that free drinks could only be given by a manager. Upon speaking to the manager over the phone after patiently waiting we were told that there was nothing he could do and that he was sorry with a pretty rude attitude. I tried to mention that if their systems weren’t down, then Tim wouldn’t have charged the drinks and we would be on our way as happy customers regardless of a managers approval and that if anything, we were forced to wait 45 minutes for a receipt just so we could be charged an EXTRA 50 dollars. Is this a way to run a business especially considering they have two major colleges next door with students who stop by daily? My friends and I will definitely not be returning and neither will any of our friends from the colleges next door to...

They scammed my friends and I out of $50 worth of drinks.

Myself and 6 of my friends went there this past Friday, (10/14/2022) after our college classes as we often do. We were sat relatively quickly and had a rather attentive service for the first half of our meal. About halfway through our meal a young lady I assume to be the hostess for the night, walks over and asks us if we could do her a favor by picking up our food and moving to a different table. She stated that she had made an error and needed our section for a large party that was previously reserved. We moved without hesitation because why not who cares, mistakes happen.

As we were getting our stuff together, our waiter Tim, came over and asked what was going on. We explained and he stated, "You guys better make sure they give you a round of free drinks." After moving our food and drinks to a new table Tim came back and asked something along the lines of, "you guys want another round of what you had with your meal on the house". Of course, we accepted. After getting our free drinks from Tim, it took him 50 minutes after we finished our meal to receive the check.

Tim stated that their machine was acting up and had went back to attempt to fix it. Upon receiving the check our waiter informed us that he couldn't get the machine to take off the free drinks and asked us to calculate the bill without the free drinks ourselves. We did so, left a 23% tip on the total that did not include the second round of drinks and left.

Come to find out that our friend whose card we used to pay was charged the full $235 which included the round of "free" drinks we were promised.

Calling and speaking to the manager yielded little help. Initially we were told that he would talk to Tim as, "Only the manager on staff is allowed to give out food or drinks on the house."

Calling back for a second time after not receiving a follow up, a new manager stated he was "sorry and there was nothing he could do."

All in all it was about $50 that they refused to refund us.

I will not be going back here again, nor will my friends, or...

This place scammed our table. My friends and I always go here after class. The food was always great, but we went this Friday (10/14/2022), and oh boy... Our waiter, Tim, started out really nice. There was 7 of us at the table, and we got our food and drinks fairly quick. We were eating, when the hostess comes over, and asked us nicely, if we could move to another table because there's a party of 20 people coming in. Understandable, she apologized for the inconvenience and we moved without any problems. Tim asked what was going on, and we told him we were moving tables, to which he replied, "you better make sure you get a free round of drinks". After we move tables, Tim says "How about another round of drinks for the table, no charge, for the inconvenience?" He then brings over $50 more worth of drinks. Nice guy we thought, lets leave him a nice big tip on what we expected our bill to be. After we finished our food and drinks, we waited for the check. The pay system was down, so we waited a while, 50 minutes, until Tim finally came back. He said there was some trouble with the drinks but it would be sorted out, and that we should calculate the check without the drinks, since we had to give him our card number to be charged when the pay system went back online. The next day my friend who paid sees the money leave his account, and included in that is the extra drinks Tim told us were on the house because of the inconvenience. My friend called, and he said the manager had a big attitude, apologized, but refused to take action, stating that "only managers can provide free drinks". As a result, he refused to refund us the $50. What kind of business charges its customers when an employee messes up? Such an unprofessional way to handle the situation. This is business 101. 54 Main just lost a large group of frequent customers and I will definitely not be recommending this place to anyone...